Rearmament is not a question to be discussed
in the abstract. The question of the rearmament
of Japan by the U.S. is one of immediate importance and one which vitally affects the whole of
Asia, India included.

The U.S.A., the occupying power in Japan, does
not talk of rearmament after the occupation ceases.
It is actually rearming that country now. Photographs in a recent issue of the American Saturday
Evening Post show the new Japanese "police" in
army uniforms, with army weapons including
quick-firing rifles and machine-guns. They live in
army barracks, are trained by American military
experts and, the accompanying article states, at
least 150,000 of them have been recruited so far.
Such facts remove the question of Japanese rearmament conclusively from the sphere of abstract
debate which to some it has still appeared to be.

The article I cite and many others like it openly
brag that the recruits have war experience, are
veterans, are tough, have killed many Chinese, and
so on. The most insolent caption says that these
soldiers will bring hope to the "lost" continent, Asia.
That so heavily and well-armed a "police" force
should become necessary after six years of the
MacArthurisation of Japan is in itself a striking
commentary on the brand of democracy introduced
by the U.S.A.! But note, furthermore, that the
pretence of using these recruits for police work within
Japan has been dropped except in official legalistic
arguments.

This force is not meant for use after the U.S.
evacuation, because there is no talk of any such
evacuation even if a "peace treaty" should be signed.
And in fact the U.S. draft treaty makes provision
for a continued U.S. occupation of Japan and the
use of Japan as a war base.

Thus it is clear that the revived Japanese forces
are not meant to protect Japan, but to attack someone else. To certain investing companies, it is true,
the continent of Asia is "lost" Clearly, these "investors" now hope that the Japanese who failed to
colonise the continent of Asia for Japan will now
be able to colonise it for their new masters.

It is not enough to laugh at this lunatic ideology,
not even enough to expose it to the intended victims
of aggression. The greatest victims will naturally be
the Japanese people and it must be made clear to
them just what role they are meant to play, at their
own cost, and for whom.

Why are these Japanese "veterans," toughened
by years of war now needed again? The answer
was provided in an enlightening announcement of
General Ridgway, MacArthur's successor, commander
of the so-called U.S. forces in the field. He proposed
that the American youths drafted for the Korean
intervention be sent back home after about five
months of fighting so that the strain might fall
evenly upon all, and not just upon one group.

No one threatens to attack Japan even when
it is actually being used a war base, and no one
has an interest in attacking a peaceful Japan in the
future. The mainland Asia is occupied by powers
which have made clear their own love for peace.
But they have also made it clear that anyone carrying war to their homelands will not be allowed to
do so with impunity.

If the Japanese mean to defend themselves, they
can do so without a large striking force. If they
mean to attack anyone this cannot be done at all
unless, of course—and this is what the U.S. imperialists intend—Japan is part of a far larger army which
would treat the Japanese as front-line auxiliaries
and colonial troops. The Korean campaign shows
that the so-called UN. troops are incapable of carrying the war further than a stalemate, if, indeed,
they can do even that. But this will not regain
certain foreign investments in China which the
vested interests concerned want to recover at any
cost to their own people and those of Asia.

The sole purpose of Japanese rearmament therefore, would be for the Japanese people to do the
hard and dirty work that the so-called U.N. troops
are unable and unwilling to perform, and to do this
at less cost to the U.S. This, the warmongers hope,
would dampen the wide-spread protest within the
U.S. itself against the war, and would also quiet
those unhappy satellites who have been dragooned
into sending token forces as U.N. contingents. But,
it is perfectly clear, this is a policy of the further
enslavement of the Japanese people.

Rearmament can only tighten Japan's chains and
bring greater misery to her people, not to mention
arousing the hatred of those against whom the new
armaments would be used. Better then, for the
Japanese, therefore, to demand their independence
and work for a position of fraternal, amicable leadership in the peaceful development of Asia. We must
distinguish sharply between the Japanese people and
those who now control Japan. Through their representative at the Berlin World Peace Council
meeting, the Japanese people proved their wish for
peace and showed their distrust for those who want
them to fight battles against their own close neighbours for the profit of foreign imperialists.